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Christianity shrinking in U.S.; Mormon numbers essentially flat

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https://www.sltrib.com/lifestyle/faith/2500019-155/christianity-shrinking-in-us-mormon-numbers

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The share of Americans who consider themselves Christian is falling fast, while the ranks of the "nones" — atheists, agnostics and "nothing in particulars" — continue to swell, according to a major new study.The Pew Research Center's 2014 Religious Landscape Study, released Tuesday, found the proportion of adults who consider themselves Christian fell nearly 8 percentage points — from 78.4 percent in 2007 to 70.6 percent last year.

The share of those unaffiliated with religion jumped nearly 7 percentage points, from 16.1 percent to 22.8 percent of adults during the same seven years.


It's an acceleration of a trend first noted in the late 1980s and represents more than just a generational shift. It's also about switching sides: Americans are increasingly willing to discard religious identities and take on new ones.
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The future is bright! I for one take this as very good news.
 
The future is bright! I for one take this as very good news.[/QUOTE]

It doesn't get into those that believe in a higher power. Just Christian faiths and their shrinking demographic. I very much appreciate the belief in a higher power.
 
Stoked said:
Define Christian. If they self identify that way is that enough?
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One who follows Christ and His teachings. And no, it isn't. Most people I've met that call themselves Christians go to church once or twice a year and believe in God and that's as far as it goes. That isn't Christianity, that's their own religion.
 
Howard said:
One who follows Christ and His teachings. And no, it isn't. Most people I've met that call themselves Christians go to church once or twice a year and believe in God and that's as far as it goes. That isn't Christianity, that's their own religion.
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I've never met two Christians who believe in the same God. Every last Christian I've talked to at any length has established their own criteria for what the God they worship must be like.
 
Howard said:
One who follows Christ and His teachings. And no, it isn't. Most people I've met that call themselves Christians go to church once or twice a year and believe in God and that's as far as it goes. That isn't Christianity, that's their own religion.
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What this sounds like is that one must have your level of belief to be Christian. One can believe in Christ and not go to church. I do.
 
Game and El Roacho might be over-enthusiastic about this.

What is happening along the LGBT/Christian divide does not portend well for the brave new worlders.

Used to be, a lot of Christians were CINOs who just said that while in fact it was irrelevant to their political opinions. But what we actually have is a polarizing issue that is forcing some folks on both sides to actually think things through. The Christian "Right" is actually gaining more converts than the LGBT "Left". And the more the issue is shoved in people's faces, the more they will react, rebel, and actually oppose.

Despite the media, the government, and the corporate shifts towards the social changes sought by the LGBT, which are in line with over a hundred years of sociological new-world dreaming including Karl Marx's formula for transforming society, more people are "Christian" in meaningful respects today than ever before.

The Clive Bundys and the D. Chris Buttars among us are just getting smarter about it. They will be back, after all the LGBT gains, with successful legislation that responds to the loss of Christian equal rights to believe their way, to live their lives as they please, and to speak as they believe. Churches will advertise their marriage rites as holy and meaningful in ways that protect the family, make wives more secure in their homes and with their children, and laws that abuse them for their beliefs will be nullified by juries, by legislatures, and by courts.

Of course, the LGBT folks could just get smart sooner, if they would, and make the changes they work for do that in the first place, and really guarantee those basic human rights.

But until they shake their Marxist or other change-agent ideologues, they will go on being just as stupid as humans have always been, and just have to learn from their mistakes.
 
Stoked said:
What this sounds like is that one must have your level of belief to be Christian. One can believe in Christ and not go to church. I do.
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I never said you had to go to church. But even the demons believe in Jesus. Doesn't make them Christians.
 
Howard said:
One who follows Christ and His teachings. And no, it isn't. Most people I've met that call themselves Christians go to church once or twice a year and believe in God and that's as far as it goes. That isn't Christianity, that's their own religion.
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Howard said:
I never said you had to go to church. But even the demons believe in Jesus. Doesn't make them Christians.
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Seems that way. It is possible I am misunderstanding you.

To me if someone wants to self identify that way then that is good enough for me. They may be a horrible representative of said group but that is their problem not mine.

Just curious. Thanks for the reply.
 
Howard said:
It's not my criteria.
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I'm just sharing my experience.

I bet if you interviewed a half-dozen people at the church you attend about who they think God is you'd be pretty surprised by their answers.
 
Howard said:
One who follows Christ and His teachings. And no, it isn't. Most people I've met that call themselves Christians go to church once or twice a year and believe in God and that's as far as it goes. That isn't Christianity, that's their own religion.
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lol. This narrows the range of posters that Howard could be.. a lot. This kind of judgment has the specialest and nastiest smell.
 
FYI, anthropologists will tell you that even though the numbers of Christians have decreased in influential areas of Europe and North America since the 19th century (I'm talking per capita here, and also acknowledging that there's been rises and falls and rises and falls, but in a general downward direction in these core zones), the number of Christians GLOBALLY has increased. I won't get into the theories about why spreading and contracting has occurred in certain spots.

If decreasing numbers thrill you or make you concerned.... well... I think you should know that the core values of Judeo-Christianity aren't going anywhere soon. People can be Angry Atheists and still have the same view of Truth as a Christian. The whole cultural soup is thoroughly steeped with the same stuff. From a certain perspective, how people choose to identify is of little importance.
 
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Gameface said:
I'm just sharing my experience.

I bet if you interviewed a half-dozen people at the church you attend about who they think God is you'd be pretty surprised by their answers.
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absolutely right on this. What's in the "book" isn't always in the "head" or "heart" of believers in any church. And churches are more social than intellectual or doctrinal in nature. It's having people in your life on whatever terms that meets the social need, within some general sense of propriety or "comfort" set of conventions.

still, the perceived "agenda" to attack those comfortable conventions is just what it takes to elevate the doctrine and mobilize a more cohesive sense of what God is.
 
babe said:
Game and El Roacho might be over-enthusiastic about this.

What is happening along the LGBT/Christian divide does not portend well for the brave new worlders.

Used to be, a lot of Christians were CINOs who just said that while in fact it was irrelevant to their political opinions. But what we actually have is a polarizing issue that is forcing some folks on both sides to actually think things through. The Christian "Right" is actually gaining more converts than the LGBT "Left". And the more the issue is shoved in people's faces, the more they will react, rebel, and actually oppose.

Despite the media, the government, and the corporate shifts towards the social changes sought by the LGBT, which are in line with over a hundred years of sociological new-world dreaming including Karl Marx's formula for transforming society, more people are "Christian" in meaningful respects today than ever before.

The Clive Bundys and the D. Chris Buttars among us are just getting smarter about it. They will be back, after all the LGBT gains, with successful legislation that responds to the loss of Christian equal rights to believe their way, to live their lives as they please, and to speak as they believe. Churches will advertise their marriage rites as holy and meaningful in ways that protect the family, make wives more secure in their homes and with their children, and laws that abuse them for their beliefs will be nullified by juries, by legislatures, and by courts.

Of course, the LGBT folks could just get smart sooner, if they would, and make the changes they work for do that in the first place, and really guarantee those basic human rights.

But until they shake their Marxist or other change-agent ideologues, they will go on being just as stupid as humans have always been, and just have to learn from their mistakes.
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Your use of categories always amuses, terrifies, and interests me.

I'm afraid you're correct about a conservative counter-revolution to some of the liberalizing moves of the last few years. And I'm very afraid of the fate that this will be waged through 24-hour news channels, social media noise, and jazzfanz. There's nothing I can do but try to ignore it.
 
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